Australasian Journal of Early Childhood

PARENT–CHILD RELATIONSHIPS are the most critical for children's social and emotional development and wellbeing. While parent–child relationship support programs are well documented, there are none designed for educators’ use within early education and care settings. To inform development of an educator program, an understanding of educators’ everyday practices, their role in supporting parent–child relationships and children's social and emotional development was sought. Educators reported the importance of parent– child relationships, yet were hesitant to engage with parents. Educators’ knowledge was primarily implicit—drawing on observations and practical experiences to build their knowledge of relationships and social and emotional development—which contributed to reluctance in sharing their knowledge with parents. Educators requested theoretical, evidence-based approaches to build further knowledge and inform everyday practices in supporting parent–child relationships. These findings are critical to the development of an educator-led parent–child relationship program for use within education and care settings.

ISSUES OF CHILDCARE AFFORDABILITY, availability and flexibility in Australia have long restricted choice for parents wanting to use formal child care. To address these issues, the Australian Government developed the Jobs for Families Child Care Package, which passed through the Australian Parliament in 2017. This paper reports findings from a study that employed Bacchi's ‘ What's the Problem Represented to be’ (WPR) methodology to analyse the potential impact of the Package on parents’ childcare choices. Consistent with submissions from peak bodies and policy analysts, Bacchi's WPR analysis uncovered potential lived and subjectification effects, which are likely to diminish the choices of disadvantaged families. Additionally, the analysis identified three discursive effects that complicate workforce participation and childcare choice. Utilising a WPR approach and disrupting the Australian Government's positioning of child care as a means to support workforce participation can inform advocacy that aims to re-centre childcare policy onto the rights of the child.

THIS ARTICLE AIMS TO DESCRIBE the level of implementation (LOI) of the Jump Start study, and examine the relationship between LOI changes and the support types provided to early childhood education and care (ECEC) centres. Direct observations were conducted in 21 ECEC centres at six months and 12 months after the start of the intervention. Each centre's LOI percentage was calculated and classified into high, medium or low implementers using objective criteria. Support strategies were determined by LOI at first observation. Pearson correlations between the support types and LOI were calculated using SPSS Statistics (version 23.0). In most cases (86%), ongoing support led to an increase in LOI, 17.5% on average. Phone calls were the only type of support significantly related to the positive LOI change (r = 0.532, p = 0.013). It was difficult to detect other effective support types due to the combined and small variance in support types provided to each centre.

IN THIS PAPER, CHILDREN'S idealised playspace drawings, arising from their participation in planning a children's playground in a local shopping centre, are examined. This examination is conducted by engaging with theories of human/nature connection, significance of place, and children as agents in co-construction of playspaces. Analysis of the drawings—through a combination of iterative visual methods and children's narratives—highlights the value children place on being outdoors and on natural elements, loose parts and activity in their play. The playspaces imagined/drawn by the children are in stark contrast to the design of play environments in many schools and early childhood settings where safety and supervision are the dominant focus. These conflicting views are examined in the context of international discourse on playspace design, and the concluding discussion adds to the growing number of voices affirming that children should be actively engaged in the planning process and become co-constructors in spaces that are designed for their use.

THIS STUDY EXPLORED INDIVIDUAL and collective reflection as pedagogical approaches to support early childhood pre-service teachers’ reflection during practicum. Current trends in the literature show a shift from individual reflection to collective reflection, with an emphasis on social constructivist perspectives. This qualitative study focused on a Malaysian teacher education institution conducting an undergraduate early years program from the UK as the selected case. Sources of evidence came from interviews, direct observations and documents such as student teachers’ teaching portfolios, their reflection journals and assessment forms. The results show that collective reflection supported higher levels of reflective thinking during practicum at the integration, validation and appropriation levels of reflection, compared to when they reflected individually. Collective reflection provided Malaysian teachers with a new platform for problem-solving, connecting theory to practice, as well as the sharing and consideration of multiple perspectives, resulting in a deeper understanding of classroom practices.

AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND HAS a reputation for being a world leader in early childhood education. However, research indicates that many early childhood teachers in New Zealand encounter difficulties when working with children and families from diverse backgrounds. In addition, though a plethora of research has been done on early childhood teachers’ partnership with parents of multicultural backgrounds, little attention has been given by researchers to Pacifika parents’ perspective on early childhood education in New Zealand. This article draws on findings from an interpretative study on three Pacifika families’ views about their cultural practice at home and their views about early childhood education in New Zealand. It is believed that investigating parents’ views on early childhood education and early childhood services in New Zealand can provide better support for families and children from Pacifika backgrounds.